Stratford Career Institute Stratford Career Institute Recycles old into new! Web Advertising Specialist? Internet

(Everything in quotes are from the sites visited.)

I saw an ad on the TVGuide web page: $300/Hr NBC Home Job Work Online For NBC From Home. Guaranteed Work. Start Today!

Even though I thought it too good to be true I clicked on it and it took me to a Durban, South Africa consumer blog site article on making money from home by becoming a Web Advertising Specialist. It mentions a six hour video course available from a school called SCI (Stratford Career Institute).

It even had a very short video clip from Good Morning America that stated companies would rather pay people to work at home than take on the expense of hiring employees to work in their offices. The video segment does not mention any specific occupation at all. It appears they were speaking of telecommuting jobs in general.

So after clicking on the link to SCI, It takes me to the SCI Web Advertising Specialist website. Interestingly, this site is only for the Web Advertising Specialist course and does not mention Stratford Career Institute whatsoever and does not have a link to any other courses or classes available.

The site is filled with the typical encouragement, platitudes and testimonials but just does not feel like it's on the up-and-up. There is no small print or contractjust pay your money and get instant access to the downloadable videos. It does promise that we guarantee we will have you working with a Fortune 500 company, from the comfort of your own home, by the time you complete the course and get certified and our course is risk free! Because we guarantee we will get you working with a Fortune 500 company right from the comfort of your own home by the time you complete the course or your money back!
(If there is any small print--you must pay before you see it.)

Then there's this come on:

Thousands of students have purchased the course for $499. Students are reporting earning $50,000 - $125,000 in their first year.

However, for those who enroll by Friday, May 08 , we offer an amazing 50% discount on the regular cost.

(The date above is arbitraryit resets every day!)

By enrolling today, you will get the complete certification course at the reduced rate of only $249.

Then you click the "Check Availability" button and they see if there is any openings in your area and then you'll see:

"Congratulations!
We currently have 2 opening(s) left for new students in your area at the 50% discount price of only $249."

I checked availability a few days in a row. There was always 1, 2 or 3 openings left.

About the testimonials on the right side of the pageclicking on one of them opens a window that has audio and a sequence of three images that cycles. The images look to be stock images of models. I don't believe they are actual students and the audio sounds scripted. In one of the testimonials the woman speaking mentions that she even got health insurance with her employment as a Web Advertising Specialist.

On the home page there is a background audio track that talks about the course. When they speak about the course they use the acronym WPS, not WAS (Web Advertising Specialist). WPS stands for Web Promotion Specialist. I f you Google 'Web Advertising Specialist', not a whole lot of results that apply show up (which would be the case if it was an actual occupation).

But, Google 'Web Promotion Specialist' and the first entry past the sponsored links is from friendsinbusiness and is a long list of complaints about how much of a scam the online WPS Certification Course from the Computer Career Institute is (circa 2007). Even more interestingly after going through some of the posts it turns out that the older course from the Computer Career Institute is a six hour video course being sold for the same amount as the current course from SCI! (Computer Career Institute is well represented on RipOff Report.)

And get this! One of the posts mentions a testimonial in which a woman says she even got health insurance from her new employer! Sound familiar?

If you check out the 'Course Sample' page you can see and hear a segment of the course offered. In the sample the speaker calls the course "Web Promotion Specialist" NOT "Web Advertising Specialist".

One last item. The SCI site states: [The] Website Advertising Specialist is a position that did not even exist five years ago. And yet at the bottom of the page appears: Copyright 1999, 2008 SCI. I looked at the source code and there are no dates later than 1999.

It sure appears that SCI/Stratford Career Institute is recycling an old scam from Computer Career Institute into a new version.

It took me less than a half an hour to find all this out. (Got to love the internet!)

Be wary! Do research! Don't get scammed!

B. Wary
Montebello, California
U.S.A.

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